The Who's 'Tommy' is returning to broadway with a twist

Musical
24/10/2019

The Who's timeless classic rock opera, Tommy, will be returning to broadway in 2021.

"Our new production of Tommy will be a reinvention aimed directly at today," director Des McAnuff said in a statement (via Deadline). "Tommy combines myth and spectacle in a way that truly soars. The key question with any musical is, 'Does the story sing?' And this one most certainly does."

McAnuff oversaw the 1993 production that won five Tony Awards as well as Best Director. The stage version was also co-written by him and Who guitarist Pete Townshend.

The director also described Tommy's character as "anti-hero ground zero".

He is the boy who not only rejects adulthood like Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, but existence itself.

He explained, "[Tommy] becomes lost in the universe as he stares endlessly and obsessively into the mirror at his own image. This gives our story a powerful resonance today as it seems like the whole world is staring into the black mirror."

Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

"The story of Tommy exists all too comfortably in the 21st Century. In fact, time may finally have caught up to Tommy Walker," McAnuff says.

Additional information about the 2021 broadway show will be announced at a later date.